Posco’s Argentine Salt Lake Lithium Accumulated Sales of 35 Trillion Won Projected
Promoting investment in mines such as Australia to secure nickel, a core material for secondary batteries
POSCO recently acquired Argentina’s’Hombre Muerto’ in 2018 as the spot price of lithium carbonate in China surged more than double, surpassing $11,000 per ton in February from $5,000 per ton in July last year. ) ‘It is predicted that the accumulated sales will reach 35 trillion won when producing lithium stored in Salt Lake and applying the current market price.
At the end of last year, POSCO confirmed that the lithium reserves in the salt lake were 13.5 million tons, six times higher than the 2.2 million tons estimated at the time of acquisition. The verification of lithium reserves was conducted by Montgomery of the United States, the industry’s best global salt solution lithium consulting company, in accordance with internationally recognized regulations.
As the electric vehicle market is growing worldwide, including China, the price of lithium, an essential material for electric vehicle batteries, is expected to continue to rise.
In addition to lithium, POSCO is actively investing in nickel, a key raw material for cathode materials that make up secondary batteries. Nickel, along with lithium, is a material that is directly connected to the performance of the battery. POSCO plans to secure its own supply of nickel for batteries through recycling (recycling) projects using waste batteries and investments in nickel mines in Australia and other countries.
In addition, in order to diversify the supply and demand of graphite, a raw material for anode material that is currently entirely dependent on China, it acquired a 15% stake in Black Rock Mining, an Australian mining company that owns a graphite mine in Tanzania in Africa, last month.
Meanwhile, by 2030, POSCO will establish its own supply system such as lithium, nickel, and graphite, which are raw materials for secondary battery materials, and POSCO Chemical plans to establish a production system of 400,000 tons of cathode materials and 260,000 tons of anode materials using these materials. Through this, POSCO Group plans to complete a material value chain that produces from raw materials to secondary battery materials, the only one in the world.
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